Over the past fifty years, technological advancements in microelectronics and microelectro-optics have proceeded at a rapid pace. As a result of this success, today's microfabricated devices and sensors are inexpensive, can be produced in large volumes, and can be fabricated with billions of sub-100 nm logic elements as small area microchips. One strong candidate for continued miniaturization is the integration of optical detectors with electronics for both logic processing and electromagnetic radiation detection (Kobrinsky, M., “On-chip optical interconnects” Intel Technology, 2004. 8, p. 129 and Ozbay, E., “Plasmonics: Merging photonics and electronics at nanoscale dimensions” Science, 2006, 311, p. 189). Optical signals offer an almost unlimited bandwidth and low loss, and therefore, it is highly desirable to couple optics and electronics at the wafer or device level to develop novel architectures. Pat. App. WO 2011/050272 A3 discloses nanoantenna arrays comprising plasmonic nanostructures or non-plasmonic nanostructures.
The inventors have realized a need for a detector that is integrated with a wavelength-selective element that can detect numerous narrow spectral regions over a broad region of the electromagnetic spectrum from ultraviolet to long wave infrared. Such a device can eliminate the existing requirement for multiple detectors and bulky wavelength-selective detection systems, which are expensive, large, and require high power levels to operate. A detector that provides this capability is not known in the art.
An array of integrated wavelength-selective detector devices, each having a sub-wavelength structure specific to a particular narrow band of wavelengths, can provide a means to detect a broad range of wavelengths for purposes of multi-spectral imaging. Such a method can provide a means to transduce multi-spectral responses from the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and microwave regions of the electromagnetic spectrum using a single detector array structure. A method to control the feature dimensions of the sub-wavelength structure can provide a means to readily tune the device structure to interact with a wide range of specific wavelengths. Furthermore, methods for making the integrated wavelength-selective detector into large area detector arrays that are not subject to limitations imposed by single crystal substrates (i.e., inherently flexible or conformable substrates that can lead to curved detector geometries) can be advantageous. Such a device can benefit from the large bandwidth of signals that could be delivered directly from a fiber optic, or from broad wavelength-band (spectral) imagery, e.g., imaging applications such as hyperspectral imaging. Furthermore, large area detectors, with some level of conformability or flexibility, can open new applications in imaging such as device integration into textiles and other fabric material for covert surveillance. Monolithic detectors for broadband electromagnetic radiation detection can simplify and reduce the size, weight and power requirements for multiple mechanical systems required to achieve multi- and hyperspectral imaging today.